Jonathan Kraft: Patriots weren’t raising Super Bowl banner without Tom Brady
Along with “Free Brady,’’ there was another rally cry common among Patriots fans as Deflategate dragged on through the offseason: “No Brady, No Banner.’’
After U.S. Distrcit Court Judge Richard Berman overturned Brady’s four-game suspension on Thursday, Patriots president Jonathan Kraft told 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Patriots Preview that the team had agreed with that message.
“Rest assured, Super Bowl XLIX’s banner was not being raised if Tom Brady was not on the field,’’ Kraft said. “He needed to be here the first game that that banner existed in the stadium. That’s not to say some other banner might not have been raised. I guess our contingencies plans … it’s never your first priority is your contingency.’’
Kraft hinted that the Patriots’ alternate banner would have honored Brady in some way.
“1 and 2 was on it. Not ‘free.’ There may have been some other things that were on the banner as well,’’ Kraft said. “Tom might have been a three-time Super Bowl MVP and a four-time Super Bowl winner and that might have been part of it too.’’
But that wasn’t the only banner news to come out of Thursday’s interview.
As fans at Gillette Stadium on Thursday may have noticed, the Patriots removed a banner commemorating the team’s 16-0 regular-season record in 2007, a banner which had become more of a punch line than a point of pride.
“We might send it to Don Shula,’’ he said. “That was a joke. That was a joke and I’m smiling.’’
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